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Whip Hand
A paperback original #s1087. Front cover art by Robert Abbett. This tittle has generally been attributed to Willeford but recent research has created a more cloudy story with a possible joint effort with Sanders.
176 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1961
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January 26, 2026
"Last by bloody lash the she-devil from Dallas would get her revenge."
Three Oklahoma farmhands kidnap a rich little girl, collect the ransom money, and then dump the girl's body in a trailer camp…
An honest L.A. cop flees the scene of an apparent crime to protect his family. When he arrives in Dallas, he steals a suitcase containing five thousand dollars, accidentally making himself the prime suspect in the kidnap and murder of Ann Marie Dixon, oil heiress…
Kay Dixon will stop at nothing to introduce her sisters’ killer to range-style justice—at the end of a whip…
At turns dark, funny, and violent, this plot is pulp fiction mayhem at its finest.
There is an air of mystery surrounding this Gold Medal novel published from 1961. It originally bore the single byline "W. Franklin Sanders”. However, we now know that Charles Willeford wrote much, if not all, of it. The original manuscript was found in Willeford’s papers after his death. The author's preferred title is Deliver Me From Dallas and the novel is supposed to carry a joint byline "by Charles Willeford and W. Franklin Sanders."
It is not entirely certain whether Sanders is a real flesh-and-blood collaborator or a literary hoax. The prevailing theory is that Willeford and Sanders met at Marin Community College in 1951-52, and they partnered on this literary endeavor shortly thereafter, with each man agreeing to write alternating chapters. Willeford likely went to his grave never realizing Sanders stole the book nor that Whip Hand had been published.
It is undoubtedly the same book. However, nearly every page is revised to some extent. The first chapter is completely rewritten. Whether this was done by Sanders or a Gold Medal editor will be forever unknown.
So, which book is better?
Deliver Me From Dallas has the better opening. Bill Brown is a rascal of an L.A. cop who is on the take and beats a civilian to death at a traffic crossing. Whip Hand tries to make Bill more sympathetic by portraying him as wrongly framed by the Commissioner and threatened by the Mob. His attack on the civilian is less brutal and necessary to provide cover for his flight out of town. The Whip Hand introduction is convoluted, robs the main character of his hardboiled roots, and sets up plot threads that do not get resolved.
Whip Hand also pads certain scenes with unnecessary exposition. Examples include the locker key switch whereby Bill steals the suitcase from Elsworth, and the financial negotiation between Kay and Bill. It feels like some editor did not think readers are smart enough to follow the story.
On the other hand, Whip Hand does correct some of the flaws in Deliver. It removes most of the
phonetic spelling of the Oklahoma bumpkin dialect, which makes for more comfortable reading. It also corrects a gaping plot hole by having Junior destroy the Oklahoma license plates on his LaSalle so the police cannot trace it.
Whip Hand tightens up the dialogue and interior monologues in places where it felt self-indulgent. Not every trim is beneficial though. It also excises some of the needed connective tissue that helps readers keep the timeline straight (for example, the scene where Junior yells at Mercer, just minutes before readers already know Mercer is about to step in front of a moving bus).
Whip Hand earns its memorable, vaguely sadomasochistic cover painting by expanding on Kay Dixon's sexual desire after she watches her father kill a man with a bullwhip. That subtext is present in Deliver, perhaps, but now it is a vital element of her character:
"Dad had been judge and jury, and the punishment still makes me shudder. But it had been thrilling and exciting, too… I leaned against the staircase and forced my right breast between two of the posts under the top rail… I flipped my skirt up to my waist and dug my fingers deep into the soft flesh of my upper inside thighs, pinching as hard as I could grip and digging my nails in, all the while punishing my captive breast between the posts. In a few short moments I felt better."
In the final analysis, I prefer Whip Hand (mainly because phonetic spelling of dialogue is a pet peeve of mine), but both versions have their merits. The book really needs a new edition that retains the better elements of both.
Somewhere inside these forgotten 3-star novels is a 5-star crime classic just waiting to emerge…
Three Oklahoma farmhands kidnap a rich little girl, collect the ransom money, and then dump the girl's body in a trailer camp…
An honest L.A. cop flees the scene of an apparent crime to protect his family. When he arrives in Dallas, he steals a suitcase containing five thousand dollars, accidentally making himself the prime suspect in the kidnap and murder of Ann Marie Dixon, oil heiress…
Kay Dixon will stop at nothing to introduce her sisters’ killer to range-style justice—at the end of a whip…
At turns dark, funny, and violent, this plot is pulp fiction mayhem at its finest.
There is an air of mystery surrounding this Gold Medal novel published from 1961. It originally bore the single byline "W. Franklin Sanders”. However, we now know that Charles Willeford wrote much, if not all, of it. The original manuscript was found in Willeford’s papers after his death. The author's preferred title is Deliver Me From Dallas and the novel is supposed to carry a joint byline "by Charles Willeford and W. Franklin Sanders."
It is not entirely certain whether Sanders is a real flesh-and-blood collaborator or a literary hoax. The prevailing theory is that Willeford and Sanders met at Marin Community College in 1951-52, and they partnered on this literary endeavor shortly thereafter, with each man agreeing to write alternating chapters. Willeford likely went to his grave never realizing Sanders stole the book nor that Whip Hand had been published.
It is undoubtedly the same book. However, nearly every page is revised to some extent. The first chapter is completely rewritten. Whether this was done by Sanders or a Gold Medal editor will be forever unknown.
So, which book is better?
Deliver Me From Dallas has the better opening. Bill Brown is a rascal of an L.A. cop who is on the take and beats a civilian to death at a traffic crossing. Whip Hand tries to make Bill more sympathetic by portraying him as wrongly framed by the Commissioner and threatened by the Mob. His attack on the civilian is less brutal and necessary to provide cover for his flight out of town. The Whip Hand introduction is convoluted, robs the main character of his hardboiled roots, and sets up plot threads that do not get resolved.
Whip Hand also pads certain scenes with unnecessary exposition. Examples include the locker key switch whereby Bill steals the suitcase from Elsworth, and the financial negotiation between Kay and Bill. It feels like some editor did not think readers are smart enough to follow the story.
On the other hand, Whip Hand does correct some of the flaws in Deliver. It removes most of the
phonetic spelling of the Oklahoma bumpkin dialect, which makes for more comfortable reading. It also corrects a gaping plot hole by having Junior destroy the Oklahoma license plates on his LaSalle so the police cannot trace it.
Whip Hand tightens up the dialogue and interior monologues in places where it felt self-indulgent. Not every trim is beneficial though. It also excises some of the needed connective tissue that helps readers keep the timeline straight (for example, the scene where Junior yells at Mercer, just minutes before readers already know Mercer is about to step in front of a moving bus).
Whip Hand earns its memorable, vaguely sadomasochistic cover painting by expanding on Kay Dixon's sexual desire after she watches her father kill a man with a bullwhip. That subtext is present in Deliver, perhaps, but now it is a vital element of her character:
"Dad had been judge and jury, and the punishment still makes me shudder. But it had been thrilling and exciting, too… I leaned against the staircase and forced my right breast between two of the posts under the top rail… I flipped my skirt up to my waist and dug my fingers deep into the soft flesh of my upper inside thighs, pinching as hard as I could grip and digging my nails in, all the while punishing my captive breast between the posts. In a few short moments I felt better."
In the final analysis, I prefer Whip Hand (mainly because phonetic spelling of dialogue is a pet peeve of mine), but both versions have their merits. The book really needs a new edition that retains the better elements of both.
Somewhere inside these forgotten 3-star novels is a 5-star crime classic just waiting to emerge…
Displaying 1 of 1 review